What Happened To The Banana Phone From Shark Tank Season 14
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Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring... what's that? Yeah, it's the Banana Phone. The Banana Phone is a Bluetooth headset that made its debut on Shark Tank in 2022. The fruity accessory connects to any Bluetooth-accessible phone, and can also be used as a speaker. Is the Banana Phone going to be a hit, or is it all but forgotten now? Let's dive into where it started and where it's at today.
In 2017, Brian Brunsing, Max Brown, and Charlie Katrycz — three Ontario-born friends who met at a wilderness canoe camp — came together to create and market a product with the goal of making the world a little more fun. Although all three friends also hold other jobs and have different business ventures, they pooled their skills together to create the Banana Phone.
Business experience isn't the only thing that the trio came to the table with. They also want to make a difference in the world with the Banana Phone. The device is made from ethically sourced materials using 100% recycled ABS plastics. A portion of sales (or, as they phrased it, a banana-split portion) totaling one percent annually from each device goes to a gorilla conservation charity, Gearing Up for Gorillas.
Before entering the tank, they utilized the Indiegogo campaign platform to raise funds. In the end, they managed to collect almost $45,000 — an impressive 145% of their fundraising goal. The initial run of pre-orders for Banana Phone, which now sells for $40, totaled over a thousand orders, spread over 18 countries.
What happened to the Banana Phone on Shark Tank?
On season 14, episode 2 Brunsing, Brown, and Katrycz approached the Sharks asking for $250k in exchange for 10% of their company. They valued their company at $2.5 million. The pitch was simple: they saw three problems with the nine-to-five work/life balance that needed to be fixed. One: it's boring. Two: establishing a real human connection is almost impossible. Three: there's not enough fun in the world, "And that's bananas!" To sum it up, they wanted to use the Banana phone to live their motto of "talk more, smile more, and save gorillas."
Unfortunately, the sharks weren't in the mood for fruit salad. The levity was appreciated, but they couldn't withstand the questioning from the panel. Barbara Corcoran and Kevin O'Leary were less than impressed to find that this was a side gig for all three men and that none of them were prepared to leave their full-time jobs to invest their time completely in Banana Phone. Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner both passed on the basis that they didn't have any interest in the project, while Robert Herjavec was amused but not convinced that the company had any scalability. The episode aired on September 30th, 2022.
Banana Phone after Shark Tank
In a post-Shark-Tank world, the Banana Phone has not lost its novelty value. The founders navigated their way through the holiday season by marketing the phone handset as a white elephant gift (and let's be honest, we wouldn't be disappointed if we got one of those at a holiday work party), and even jumped onto the Barbie meme train on their Instagram. "This Barbie is more than just a banana," said the post on Banana Phone's Instagram profile.
As a company, Banana Phone also continues to do its part for gorilla conservation and the environment. The business is a part of 1% for the Planet, which specifically helps gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. The Banana Phone also continues to be an ethical and sustainable product. The company uses conflict-free minerals in its Qualcomm controllers. In addition, it also utilizes recycled plastics and uses packaging that is fully recyclable and made from 100% paperboard.
Is Banana Phone still in business?
Banana Phone may have been a bust with the Sharks, but the company itself is still chugging along with all three friends at the helm. While it remains a side job for the trio, it's a fairly successful one. For anyone reading this and dealing with a sudden burning desire to have a Banana Phone you can call your own, it's available for around $50 on retail sites, with occasional dips in price. The handset will connect to an iPhone or Android system and is compatible with Alexa, Siri, Google, and other voice assistant Bluetooth devices. Using the Banana Phone, you can answer calls, end calls, and reject calls.
The Banana Phone charges using a Micro USB cable (which is included in the purchase), and each charge will last up to twenty hours of talk time or 120 hours when idle. The Bluetooth range on the Banana Phone is sixty feet.
The company has an Amazon storefront where you can purchase the Banana Phone for a few bucks cheaper than the retail price. If you feel the need for a bunch, they also sell them in sets of three. (And yes, they are actually called a bunch.) The handset currently has a 4.5-star rating, proving that people are bananas for this product. Perhaps it's time that the makers of the Banana Phone teamed up with the people behind this Japanese robot that exists to peel bananas.
What's next for the Banana Phone?
Banana Phone appears to be in a holding pattern. There are no announcements on social media or its website about new additions to the family tree, but the company is still active on its social media accounts, TikTok in particular. Its most recent claim to fame is a video of actress Reese Witherspoon being delighted with her acquisition, her very own banana handset. While it's likely that both Shark Tank and the Reese Witherspoon promotion helped their sales and visibility, there are no official statements on the kind of sales numbers the novelty phone is pulling in.
Given that none of the founders are relying on Banana Phone's success to pay their mortgages, they may just be happy growing at a slow, organic rate as opposed to the aggressive expansion and growth the Sharks may have preferred to see. They do offer wholesale partnerships on their website with a minimum order total of $200, though their website does not yet list any official retail partnerships.